101. Ethanol-induced c-Fos expression in rat lines selected for low and high alcohol consumption.
- Author
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Thiele TE, van Dijk G, and Bernstein IL
- Subjects
- Animals, Brain drug effects, Ethanol blood, Injections, Intraperitoneal, Isotonic Solutions, Locus Coeruleus metabolism, Male, Rats, Sodium Chloride pharmacology, Tissue Distribution, Alcohol Drinking, Brain metabolism, Ethanol pharmacology, Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos metabolism, Rats, Inbred Strains genetics, Rats, Inbred Strains physiology, Selection, Genetic
- Abstract
Selectively bred rat lines, developed to model genetic contributions to alcohol abuse, include the Indiana alcohol-preferring (P) and alcohol-nonpreferring (NP) lines, and the Alko-Alcohol (AA) and Alko-Nonalcohol (ANA) lines. Preferring and nonpreferring lines were compared in their response to intraperitoneal injection of either ethanol or isotonic saline using c-Fos expression as a marker of neuronal activity. Although line differences were noted in several brain regions, the principal finding was that alcohol-nonpreferring lines (NP and ANA) displayed greater c-Fos expression in the locus coeruleus (LC) relative to the alcohol-preferring lines (P and AA) following injection of 3.0 g ethanol/kg. These data point to the LC as an area which may play a role in the differences in voluntary ethanol consumption between rat lines genetically bred for low and high ethanol preference.
- Published
- 1997
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